At the outset of his remarks, he said, “I want all of you to know you
have a full partner at the US DOT in working toward livable
communities”. A key theme of LaHood’s remarks was that he and President
Obama will work hard help make communities nicer places to walk and
bike. LaHood said that he and Obama, “Will work toward an America where
bikes are recognized to coexist with other modes and to safely share
our roads and bridges.”

One bright spot that did not go unnoticed by the crowd is that
LaHood said he and other transportation officials plan to study
European models of bike and walk-friendly facilities this spring
(something Portland, New York City, and others have already been doing).

In another encouraging development, Maus reports that representative James Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is meeting with prominent bike lawyers to discuss national traffic justice legislation.

In fairness to Mary Peters, she was willing to hand us (initially) $500 million for implementing congestion pricing. In the best of all possible words, there would be a TV reporter on Sheldon Silver’s doorstep every morning shoving a microphone in his face and reminding him of this.

Tricia

Anyone see that bike/American flag pin??

Ha, just thought that was amusing.

Larry Littlefield

Unless DOT plans to allow bicycles on interstates, that doesn’t mean much, since local streets are a local issue.

What could have been done is to require bike/ped access to bridges rebuilt with federal stimulus money. That could include those primarily occupied by interstates.